CHAPTER 1385: CHAPTER 1385: AWAITING YOU TO FALL INTO THE TRAP (EXTRA-LONG CHAPTER, REQUEST FOR MONTHLY TICKETS)

The shining laser cutter swiftly sliced open the shell of the black instrument, revealing a gap through which intricate components could faintly be seen inside.

Several mechanical arms carefully moved up and down, separating and securing the device within the shell.

Vigina walked to the side of the instrument, gazing at the dismantled casing. Her gaze penetrated through the dense array of components, focusing on a thin metal line inside the shell.

The metal line was tightly connected to the instrument’s casing and linked to a tiny round component a third the size of a pinky finger.

"Is there a micro bomb inside?" Vigina looked at the round component, slightly furrowing her brow.

This component resembled the classic packaging of a micro high-explosive bomb. Judging from the lack of any inscriptions, it appeared to be an unauthorized bomb, not available on the market.

However, the packaging was clearly manufactured to military factory standards; whether in terms of safety or explosive yield, it far surpassed those hand-made bombs on the black market.

Though small, at close range, even a Grade D hit by it could likely lose a significant part of their life.

"Hmm."

He Ao raised his hand. Three mechanical arms, equipped with several micro-screwdrivers, ventured deeper through the opening, slowly removing the silver micro bomb along with the trigger wire.

These mechanical arms then quickly opened the lid, disarming the bomb and setting it aside.

Vigina watched the scene, unconsciously holding her breath, only exhaling once the entire bomb was completely dismantled.

At this moment, He Ao had already opened the instrument’s lid, laying out all the components, and gazed down at each piece.

"Have you dismantled such a device before?" Vigina turned, looking at He Ao’s adept movements, and asked with some surprise.

Both his actions dismantling the bomb and the components were so skilled, it seemed like he was already intimately familiar with the structure inside.

Even slightly cutting more of the shell earlier would have triggered the bomb to explode.

"First time," He Ao replied offhandedly, "a friend is remotely assisting me."

If the bomb had been handmade by an explosion enthusiast, it might have been a bit troublesome to dismantle; military factory products were relatively easier.

Factories aimed for mass production, with all components standardized and modularized. With relevant similar blueprints and information, it was easy to trace its structure and dismantle it.

In this regard, Eve had plenty of such information.

Many of the mechanical arms here were remotely operated by Eve, assisting He Ao, and the black instrument’s structure had long been ’seen’ by He Ao using Divine Sense.

"Hmm," Vigina did not pursue the sensitive topic further. She glanced at the micro bomb He Ao had set aside, gently picked it up, and studied it closely.

Bombs of such high standards are generally very safe once disarmed.

She turned the bomb over in her hand, "The workmanship of this bomb is excellent, the edging is very meticulous. Generally, small military factories would struggle to produce this; only a major factory under the Evis Spatial System could. It’s probably not cheap."

She looked down at the instrument cover on the table, reflecting, "This device looks like a portable device, yet contains such a bomb. If the instrument were largely damaged, the bomb would detonate. In the event of danger, this communication device could serve as a ’mutually assured destruction’ bomb."

"Seems a bit extreme?" He Ao casually remarked.

He was manipulating the mechanical arms to remove the battery from the device at that moment.

"Hmm," Vigina nodded slightly, placing the micro bomb back on the table, "the organization manufacturing this instrument is ruthless even to their own; they must be even more ruthless to outsiders."

As she said this, she suddenly paused, recalling what Paxiu had just said about this instrument being found from someone inciting him to assassinate the President.

If they dared to orchestrate the President’s assassination, what else wouldn’t they dare to do?

"The battery is dead." By now, He Ao had fully dismantled the battery, speaking softly.

"Huh?" Vigina was slightly taken aback, her gaze fell upon the battery held up by the mechanical arm, and she paused slightly, "A single-use battery?"

The black instrument was entirely sealed, lacking a charging port. Coupled with the single-use battery, it meant that this instrument was designed with a set usage ’life’ from the outset.

"Yes." He Ao observed the battery before him, nodding lightly.

According to the instrument indicators, this battery had just recently been depleted, with a faint electrical current still present but insufficient to power the device.

He glanced at the contents on his wristband.

Eve had already charted the discharge function curve of this single-use battery, based on the electrical decay rate and the chemical properties inside the battery.

Tracing back along this function curve, the battery ’depleted’ timing, rendering the device inoperable, likely occurred approximately an hour before Paxiu attempted to assassinate the President, not long after Moli had also just died.

That timestamp might also have marked the ’final death line’ set by Moli’s superior for him.

When Moli finally sealed this device, it should still have been charged.

Following the conclusion of the assassination attempt, this device should have been completely depleted, making it so that even if found, any attempt to dismantle it would trigger the bomb, utterly destroying both the device and anyone seeking to explore it.

The one who gave this device to Moli had likely anticipated the possibility of this device being ’found’ by others.

This might also have implied he never intended for Moli to ’return this device alive.’

However, based on Eve’s analysis, the battery’s discharge curve wasn’t absolutely stable. If usage frequency was low and the chemical reactions inside the battery thoroughly occurred, the battery might not deplete at the designed time, extending by several hours.

The probability was low but not nonexistent.

He Ao gazed at the dismantled components, as countless mechanical arms began wiring over the mainboard, connecting a data port and power supply port.

Simultaneously, He Ao manipulated a mechanical arm to grab an adjustable voltage and current external power supply, setting it to a suitable input value for the device.

He took out a data cable, connecting the data port to his wristband, and allowed Eve to start interfacing with the device.

This device seemed to require a password to access, which Eve was in the process of cracking, along with the instrument’s program.

During the process, he looked up, glancing at Vigina beside him, and casually asked, "Those drones last night didn’t seem to belong to the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

"Hmm," Vigina nodded gently; since cooperation had been achieved, there was no need to withhold information, "The people controlling those drones came from Ains, claiming to belong directly to the Presidential advisor group, with numerous authorizations from Ains."

"But what they did didn’t seem like ’advisor’ actions." He Ao replied.

"Indeed," Vigina nodded, pondering for a moment, then mused, "Strictly speaking, I think they felt more like a kind of high-authority ’hidden armament.’"

Hearing her words, He Ao nodded gently, quickly flipping through his memories, "Our old President isn’t necessarily a mild-mannered, kind-hearted old man."

At this moment, Eve had also managed the device’s control.

He Ao directly projected the device’s ’display content’ to a screen held up by a mechanical arm in front of him.

The entire device’s ’home page’ had no selectable icons, only an interface that seemed like a chat box.

At the bottom was an input box, allowing text entry.

The chat box didn’t allow choosing chat objects, appearing to only send messages to one target without any stored message history.

"This seems like some kind of communication device." Vigina contemplated aloud.

"Hmm, a point-to-point contact device," He Ao nodded lightly, "can only communicate with a specific target."

Eve had already cracked the local system of this device and was reporting the system’s operation and contents through the Bluetooth earphones in his ears.

The local system wasn’t complex; it was a point-to-point communication system with a self-destruct feature for messages after reading, so no chat history was retained.

In reality, the device’s structure was very simple and could only send text messages, lacking even a location device, microphone, or camera.

Of course, once connected to the network, the backend might be able to determine the approximate area of the device through its IP address, but after Eve cracked the system, she could also create a virtual IP address to deceive the backend data.

The device couldn’t run any other software or system and couldn’t transfer files or photos, capable only of text transmission, which seemed rudimentary for this era.

But that simplicity also prevented the possibilities of transmitting Trojan programs or extraordinary power insignia through this device.

Upon seeing the chat box, Vigina also realized the issue, turning to He Ao, "Is there any way to attempt locating the network address of the contact opposite? With a network address, we might determine which region they’re in."

She paused slightly and shook her head, "Such information would definitely be uploaded to the cloud, not end-to-end, targeting the server location of the opposite system. Considering their caution, the server likely has countless proxy addresses."

"No need for that complex."

He Ao shook his head, then, under Vigina’s puzzled gaze, lifted his hand and swiftly typed a line of text into the device.

[I’m Paxiu, Moli is dead, I need to leave Denno City now, help me.]

This device is very simple, perhaps to avoid being detected by surveillance networks. It only connects to the network when being unlocked and entering the system, sending and receiving messages.

So even if the device was previously out of power and shut down, the background can’t detect it.

Then, under Vigina’s stunned expression, he directly clicked on send.

The message was sent out quickly, displayed in the chat window, and after a brief pause, the message seemed to melt and slowly disappear from the screen.

This indicated the person on the other side saw the message.

But long after it dissolved, no new message came through.

The entire repair room fell silent, so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

Vigina turned her gaze toward He Ao, ready to say something.

At that moment, a message suddenly appeared on the screen.

[Tomorrow morning at six, outside Gate 9 of the Northern District Stadium.]

Vigina’s eyes widened suddenly, she didn’t expect the other side would reply directly.

And He Ao also gazed at these words, sinking into a brief silence.

Before the assassination, Moli promised to help ’Paxiu’ leave Denno City, which was something only ’Paxiu’ knew.

He directly revealed his identity, holding a certain ’gamble’ intent.

He gambled that the other side had enough confidence in their device, preferring to believe the battery hadn’t died, Moli told ’Paxiu’ the password, rather than the device being cracked.

Of course, if it weren’t for He Ao having Divine Sense, understanding the internal structure in advance, with Eve’s help, this thing wouldn’t be so easy to crack.

The fleeing ’Paxiu’ would absolutely be unable to crack this, only officials would have that capability.

Hmm, perhaps the other side had the ability to confirm that the communicator wasn’t in ’official’ hands.

Is that why there was a ’wait’ before a reply?

However, the other side might not completely ’confirm’ his identity.

And under He Ao’s gaze, the reply message also quickly dissolved like melting.

Vigina turned her head to look at He Ao, but just as she thought He Ao would agree, she saw He Ao type a new message:

[I don’t have that much time, there are drones and police everywhere.]

This message disappeared almost instantly, meaning the other side had their device open right now, waiting for a response from this side.

This time, the pause wasn’t as long, and after a brief pause, a new message came through,

[Three in the afternoon, 95 Lorent Street, Vika Cafe]

He Ao swiftly replied, [Before twelve]

This time the other side immediately responded, [Three in the afternoon].

This meant there was no room for negotiation, clearly indicating it was the earliest time the other side could provide; He Ao didn’t reply further, not wanting to overdo it.

With the final message from the other side dissolving, He Ao directly cut off the device’s power.

Vigina watched He Ao, hesitated for a moment, and asked quietly, "Why didn’t you agree with him the first time?"

He Ao lifted his hand, densely packed mechanical arms began reassembling the disassembled device, he casually said, "A heavily injured, dying person, being pursued, doesn’t have much patience."

"Then why did he propose such a late time..." Vigina paused slightly in her speech, abruptly realizing the other side’s first ’meeting’ was probably testing, confirming whether the person in front was ’Paxiu’ and not someone else.

And He Ao almost instantly reacted to the other side’s intention.

"Are you deliberately exposing your identity? Exposing that you’re holding this device," she looked at He Ao, pondering out loud, "How do you know he will meet you for sure?"

As she said this, she slowly came to her senses.

What she saw in He Ao was confidence, strength, power, but this was actually her being ’deceived’ by He Ao’s charisma.

At this moment, theoretically, He Ao should be heavily injured, fleeing in disarray under the pursuit of the police and Ains’s people, like a dog with no home, at any moment facing death.

In such a state, a straightforward request for ’help’ is actually most plausible.

When someone is about to die, they can’t consider so much.

So the other side deliberately selected a later time, testing if He Ao really urgently wanted to ’leave Denno City’, wanted to ’survive’.

And He Ao’s response also matched the other side’s expectations.

Vigina had already gotten used to being a ’cat’, and with He Ao showing such formidable ability, she naturally assumed the person from the hidden force as the ’mouse’.

But in reality, in the other side’s perspective of roles, it might be reversed.

In the eyes of that hidden force, perhaps He Ao was actually the weak ’mouse’, a grievously injured, dying ’mouse’, with no escape and being hunted.

Whether genuinely wanting to help He Ao or to silence him, bringing He Ao out wasn’t a loss.

After all, no one in Denno City had ’found’ He Ao yet.

Without any cost, he could directly ’fish’ He Ao out.

That’s why he so readily agreed to ’meet’ with He Ao, perhaps he didn’t care whether He Ao was intentionally fishing for him.

What kind of waves can a dying ’mouse’ stir up?

Moreover, He Ao just ’admitted’ outright that ’Moli is dead’, asserting himself as ’Paxiu’.

It avoided the hassle of exchanging codes or mimicking ’Moli’s’ tone, allowing direct communication.

Vigina turned her head to look at He Ao, who had almost completely reassembled the entire device.

This person, his grasp of human psyche and the situation, had reached a terrifying level.

However, although she was surprised by He Ao’s cleverness, she was also a bit worried.

The fellow from the hidden force probably wasn’t weak, and even going to the cafe in the afternoon might have a lot of ambushes.

In the face of absolute strength, sometimes, cleverness alone can’t turn the tide.

And she was merely a D-level, and her trusted team had already been lost.

This vortex was probably more dangerous than any case she had ever encountered.

"Are you going to the appointment in the afternoon?" she asked, pondering as she looked at He Ao, "That guy is so confident, he must have something to rely on. Although I’ve lost my trusted team, I still hold the position of Director, I might be able to mobilize some people from the Federal Bureau of Investigation first."

"No need for now," He Ao shook his head, reached out, and picked up the black device he had reassembled.

This device looked almost the same as it did before disassembly, but the battery inside had been replaced, controlled to connect and disconnect power by Eve.

He glanced at the time on his wristband, "However, we still have some time before three in the afternoon,"

He put the device back into his pocket and looked at the slightly puzzled Vigina, "We can go to another place first."

Strictly speaking, the whole process of disassembling, messaging, and reassembling the device didn’t take much time. He originally thought the device would be somewhat complex and take a while to crack, but it turned out there wasn’t much to decode, which saved him time.

"Where to?" Vigina asked, watching He Ao packing up, a bit confused.

"The President’s assassination scene."

He Ao replied calmly.